Who was on HRT before dx?

Can we start a WTF thread?  I am 44, have not been on hormone replacement therapy and am one of a few women I know of that have not been on birth control pills for years - I have been on them, but  for 4 years from 1990-1994.  I have none of the other risk factors, and NO ONE in my family gets cancer (we get heart disease).  So, go figure.  Addressing the risk factors - I did have my kids in my early thirties, but I did breast feel them both, and was pregnant by 30, just miscarried.

Susan - I too have just learned of two women, one stage 1 that now have brain mets.  I do not understand how this can happen so fast.  These cases have me furious, and just kind of depressed.  My oncotype score was 23, so I am doing chemo - CMF - and have an infusion tomorrow am.

I, too struggle with the constant, chipper, "yes, I'm fine!" when I feel like I will never be able to feel fine again.  I can't imagine a time when I won't feel like cancer is lurking around in my body. Yes, I had clear nodes, which believe me, I am happy about.  But, that isn't an all clear.  It seems like there are no guarantees.

WTF

Susan in Seattle

Mzmiller and the rest...this can be depressing can't it? I had a clear mamo this week but the gnawing pain in my bladder has me thinkin about what can that be? Test showed no infection. How much can our nerves do to us? This is a constant fear that may be with us for some time till we get further away from this nightmare. But it gets you..no doubt. The s/e's from

Aromasin were very bad pain at the joints all over. My onco said these were muscles pains not joint. He said the AI's affect tendons and ligaments as well. The only thing that hurts still is the tendon in my left elbow.Ibuprofen works well but it's there with a vengions when I don't take it and of course I don't want to take that every day

mz..looks like we had the same dx.. Artsee

I was on Premarin for 20 years before diagnosis.  Began with the highest dosage (at the time), then gradually weaned down to 0.6mg.  For a long time I too believed that HRT caused my BC, but after reading way too much about BC and learning we've been dealing with it for over 3000 years, I changed my mind.  Breast cancer has been around long before any hormone treatments, birth control measures and IVF.  Millions of women over time have not engaged in the aforementioned and still got (get) breast cancer.  It's unfortunate that doctors do not tell patients this fact. The real cause remains a mystery.

Good wishes to all,

Jelly

Hi, Susan ~  I'm glad you asked this question about HRT.  I was on Prempro for 15 years, and I strongly believe it contributed to my developing bc.  My BS wouldn't say it caused my bc, but she did say it was "fueling" it.  I've also learned since my dx that if you have a first-degree relative with bc (which I do; my sister, who was dx'd much younger than I was), your risk of developing bc if you are on HRT jumps to 50%!!!  (I believe that stat came from one of Dr. John Lee's books.)  How I wish someone had told me that years ago, instead of that if I went off HRT I would fall apart, which was my primary doc's attitude. I had been put on HRT very young, and she strongly maintained that all the negative findings about it did not apply to me.   

I am also curious how many others who were on HRT also had multicentric disease (which I had) and/or more than one type of bc (which I also had).       Deanna

I have been on HRT (Estracombe) for quite a few years and bio-identical ones before that for severe menopausal symptoms that were ruining my quality of living. I also am a musician and drank pretty heartily too.....I knew the risks... pretty careless in hindsight....but I know why I did everything I did and made a concious decision so I don't concentrate on what caused this ... just what now? I am awaiting surgery...this coming Tues. and then the dreaded wait for the results... this has definetely been a wake up call for me AND been life changing

On the news today there was an article about the relationship between HRT and BC. They are saying that there is further proof that with less women going on HRT that the incidence of BC is reducing. They are saying that women should be checked every 6mths by their docs and should NOT stay on it if they don't need to.

I had a full hysterectomy in 1988 and was immediately put on Premarin and stayed on it for 10 years without a break (several years on double strength) before getting ER+ BC. I have no family history and have since found mets in my back which are also ER+. Doctors had prescibed Vagifem in recent years for Vaginal dryness.Again they assured me it was safe. Obviously that was the 1st thing they took me off when they found the secondaries.

I saw the doc this afternoon and told him about todays news. He thinks it's a whole lot of rubbish and told me how he had just taken a 70 yr old woman off it because she didn't need it anymore. He also said her life would have been hell without them. Imagine what it would have been like if she hadn't been so lucky.

I told him that if I had my time over again I definitely would NOT have gone on HRT no matter what.  The hell of what we are all going through needs to be told. I may not reach 60 and my quality of life has been S..t! These drug companies need to inform patients of the risks. Most people put their heads in the sand and don't believe it can happen to them, But we know it can.

Sandra

mzmiller,

I think the attitude to HRT depends on how BC has affected one's life.I can assure you that putting up with menapausal symptoms are not easy but definitely better than dying of BC. When you get told that all they can do now is give palliative care, give me hot flushes any day. I get them now anyway with the drugs I'm on.

Aside from myself, I think it's important that our daughters are given the right advice. I don't have the right to force my opinions on anyone else but hope that doctors become more cautious and are more tolerant of alternative ways to help these symptoms instead of just prescibing eostrogen.

Hi Donnabee

It's human nature to look for the quick fix and we're all guilty of that. It really hit me hard when they found the bone mets in my back a few weeks ago also. I cried heaps but we have to come to terms with our condition otherwise we ruin the rest of our lives.

I try to keep busy and treat it just like another condition I have which also came upon me after my initial BC 10 yrs ago - Diabetes. People don't say that you are dying of Diabetes they say you are living with Diabetes. I am now living with Secondary Breast Cancer.

I know I'm a little late to the discussion, but I rarely took birth control pills during my reproductive years and following a hysterectomy five years ago (at age 48), I chose not to take HRT and just did instant menopause cold turkey. So I was quite surprised to be diagnosed with estrogen positive breast cancer last month. Not that we all aren't surprised by BC. My paternal grandmother had BC at age 70 but she lived to 95. Looking backward toward the cause is complex. For me maybe it was 20 years of wine with dinner?

Best wishes to all as we work our way through this latest wrinkle in our lives.

P